#RolandMartinUnfiltered - What happened to Lauren Smith-Fields? Biden & Cannabis Reform Promise, MS Lawmakers Walkout, FL CRT

Episode Date: January 22, 2022

1.21.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: What happened to Lauren Smith-Fields? Biden & Cannabis Reform Promise, MS Lawmakers Walkout, FL CRTShe died in her home. And it was a white man with her who alerted the police. But the police didn't take him into custody because he "looked like a nice guy." I'm talking about the death of Lauren Smith-Fields out of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The family has filed a notice to sue the police department over the investigation. It's been over a month since she died, and the cause of death has yet to be determined. There is so much to unpack with this story. The Fields' family attorney will join us tonight to help us understand the bizarre case.In Oklahoma, a white man is back behind bars after violating his bond in the murder of a black man whose body was buried under the white man's septic tank.  Flordia's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing a bill aimed at prohibiting public schools and private businesses from making white people feel "discomfort," What does that even mean? A Florida state senator will try to explain what's happening down there.Black Mississippi lawmakers walk out as the state Senate passes an anti-Critical Race Theory Bill.Voting rights aren't the only unfulfilled campaign promises made by President Joe Biden. He made some about marijuana reform that he has yet to address. We'll talk to a cannabis activist who will explain how Biden has fallen short.More Black families are homeschooling their children, citing the pandemic and racism. In our Education Matters segment, we'll meet two women who created a community where children can learn in a less stressful environment.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. The momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, January 21st, 2022, and coming up, I'm Roland Martin,

unfiltered on the Black Star Network. She died in her home, and it was a white man with her who alerted the police, but the police didn't take him into custody because he, quote, looked like a nice guy. I'm talking about the death of Lauren Smith Fields in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The family has filed a notice.

They want to sue the police department over the investigation. It's been more than a month since she died. The cause of death has yet to be determined. There's so much to unpack with this story. The Fields family attorney joins us to understand this bizarre case. In Oklahoma, a white man is back behind bars

after violating his bond in the murder of a black man whose body was buried under the white man's septic tank. Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis a black man whose body was buried under the white man's septic tank. Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing a bill aimed at prohibiting public schools and private businesses from making white people feel discomfort. What does that even mean?

We'll talk to a black Florida State Senator about that very issue. In Mississippi, black lawmakers walk out as the Senate passes an anti-critical race theory bill. Voting rights aren't the only unfulfilled promises made by President Joe Biden. He made some about marijuana reform that he has yet to address.

We'll talk to a cannabis activist who will explain how Biden has fallen short. Also, more black families are homeschooling their children, citing the pandemic and racism. In our Education Matters segment, we'll meet two women who created a community where children can learn in a less stressful environment. And also, mm, mm, mm,

crazy white woman goes to a school board meeting, literally, saying, if y'all don't change your policy, I'm gonna bring back my loaded guns. The school district has stepped up their policing because she said, I'll be back on Monday. And we'll be taking your phone calls right here on the show as well. Remember, only our Bring the Funk fan club members

get to chime in. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the miss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's on go-go-royal It's rolling, Martin Rolling with rolling now

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. All right, folks, a family desperately seeks answers after a relative is found dead in her Connecticut apartment after meeting someone on a dating app. 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields. This is her right here, folks. She was found inside her Bridgeport, Connecticut apartment last month. Officials say Matthew LaFontaine met her on the dating app, but it was the person who alerted the police to her death. Okay. Hmm. Same person. He was not detained. Okay. Now here's the problem. It's bad enough that they did not consider him to be a suspect. The family says the police did not inform them that Lauren was even dead.

They found out when they traveled to Bridgeport after not hearing from her, and Lauren's landlord told the family that she had passed away. Today, the family filed a notice of intent to sue the Bridgeport Police Department over the handling of this case. Folks, this has befuddled many people.

Folks have been asking lots of questions on social media, and also it hasn't gotten lots of attention. The family's attorney is Darnell Crossland. He joins us right now from Bridgeport. Glad to have you on the show. So first, just sort of walk us through this. So Lauren meets this guy

on a dating app. Is he from Bridgeport? Does he come from another particular city? What do y'all know about him? How old is he? Please just lay this out for us. What happened? Thank you for having us on the show. It's a very important topic.

So what we know is that this gentleman is from Stratford, Connecticut, which is about 20 minutes from Bridgeport, Connecticut. And he's about 50-something years old, as far as we know. And Lauren is 23. He allegedly meets Lauren on a dating website called Bumble. and that's a statement that he gave to the police officers. But as we sit here today, the police officers have not requested from Bumble, uh, a copy of the transcripts, if you would, between, uh, the conversations

between the two of them. They have not done any of that. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on. I'm sorry. So you're telling me that the guy who calls cops who is in the apartment, he's 50-something, she's 23. He says how they met.

A month has passed and they haven't even gotten records from the dating app company? That's exactly what I'm saying. So due diligence will tell you that they should at least have, by this time, reached out to Bumble and said,

hey, can we have some records that show that Lauren was contacting this guy or this guy was contacting her? They have not done that. The CEO of Bumble have reached out to us, and today, as I sit here today, they confirmed that the police department in Bridgeport has not even requested

anything from them, and that they're willing to give whatever's requested. Okay. So, he calls police. Is there a 911 recording? Is there any audio recording

of him calling the police? Police arrive. Is there any body camera footage from the officers when they came to her apartment? At this point, the police have refused to turn over anything to my office,

and they cite that as an ongoing investigation. So we don't have that, but we will be, as well as many people in the press, have been making FOIA requests saying that we need to have this information because the Bridgeport police have failed to prosecute this case. Okay. So you have...

Okay. All right. So they don't request the information. They're not turning over information to you. Is there an active investigation? Have they even articulated that to you and the family? Yes, so they've articulated that there's an investigation. I like the word you use, active. They seem to be everything but active.

So they're just basically pacifying this family by saying that they're investigating, but they have done nothing to show that they are. For instance, the day that Lauren was found at the apartment dead, and this white man allegedly called the police, they didn't even quarantine off the area. They didn't do the normal CSI protocols.

They didn't collect anything of value on that day. So I, you know, I don't want to even call this an investigation. It seems like they're doing nothing. Okay. Do you know how long... Did they bring him to the police station to interview him? Nothing. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

A 23-year-old seemingly healthy woman dies in her apartment. The dude who admits they just met through an app is in the apartment. He calls the cops. They arrive. He alive. She dead.

And they don't even bring him to the police station for questioning? That's what I'm saying. I've been a fan of yours. I've been watching your show for a long time. And, you know, if you have time to second seat me on this, you can be co-counsel here because those are the questions. And that is the sentiment. This guy has not even been called a person of interest. Much less he's a suspect and they have not even called him a person of interest.

They just let him go. What... Okay. What is the mayor saying? What are city council members saying? What are the police chiefs saying? The... The police... The acting police chief, because the police chief is in federal prison, uh, doing a year sentence for, uh,

for some type... some type of fraud related to his position. And so he's gone. And the acting police chief has said nothing. We've requested meetings with them. They have refused to meet with us. They brought us into the police department one time, and they put us in an interrogation room that was about four by four, not a conference room. And it was myself, Ms. Chantel, the mother, the two brothers, and the family advocate squeezed into a small little room. And I've been in that room many times with clients of mine who've been accused of murder. It's the same interrogation room they put us in.

So they've shown no respect at all for the spammy or this process. And Gabby Petito got way more of attention and way more of a process as a white woman than we've gotten at all. I'm going to bring my panel here. I'm sure they have some questions. And so let me do that right now. First of all, Michael M. Hotep, African History Network, he joins us. I'm sort of glad to have you, Kelly Buffay of Communication Strategies, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. Matt, I'll start with you. You get to ask the first question from the panel. The question I have for you, brother, is what has the police department said in their explanation as to why they don't take somebody who's on the scene into custody?

Did they take any kind of preliminary statements there at all? Yeah, there's an incident report that the gentleman gave, and I have a copy of that. And in that incident report, for instance, it says that the gentleman said that he did not have sex with her, he did not take his clothes off, they slept with their clothes on. Yet still, we find a condom with semen in the bathroom, we find lubricant, we find a pill that's used as a sedative on the kitchen counter. These are what they call physical evidence. This is physical evidence. So in my 17 years of practice, what you normally do is take that physical evidence and compare it with

the statement that this gentleman made. And then you see if it matches. So if there's a used condom with semen in it, that's an unknown. You compare that with the DNA of a known, which would be the gentleman. Take his DNA and compare it with the unknown, which is the semen in the condom. They didn't do that. They didn't even collect it. So two weeks after... Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up.

You just said we discovered a used condom. Y'all did and not the cops? Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Wait a minute. What says that... So, do you have...

Okay, I'm sorry. I've covered many cases. Is there an evidence report? Have they even said what we collected? Nope. It was so bad. Wow. I don't think people watching,

I don't think the people who are watching and listening really understand what we just heard. So now here's the problem. Because they did not collect the evidence. Y they did not collect the evidence. Y'all did.

You do not have a chain of custody issue. There you go. There you go. There you go. And I keep saying, it's like in the OJ case when Van Atta rode around with a vial of blood from Rockingham for days and weeks. Johnny Cochran raised that same issue. Why was he riding around with a vial of blood from Rockingham for days and weeks. Johnny Cochran

raised that same issue. Why was he riding around with the blood? It should have been taken directly to the laboratory. Same thing here. They collected nothing. And when they finally collected it on December 29th, when we made them collect it, on January 5th, I called a forensic laboratory in Meriden, Connecticut, which I've dealt with a lot of murder cases myself. And they said, they looked up the case number and said, the Bridgeport Police Department hasn't sent anything here. They said, is this the case about the young lady who died in Bridgeport? I said, yes. How did you know that?

We saw it on the news. And they said, let's double check. They double checked. They said, nope, no submissions made by the Bridgeport Police Department. So where is the condom? Where is the lube? Where is the pill? It's like they just threw it out the window.

Has the medical examiner given a preliminary report on her cause of death at this point? I know y'all are getting an independent autopsy, but, I mean, presumably there would be an arrest warrant issued if there's anything corroborative of foul play that could have been related to this guy. Has the medical examiner said anything to that respect? As of today, the Washington Journal, Washington Post called up to the lab and was told

that they're still reviewing and they don't have anything else to add at this point. Wait a minute. An autopsy? Yes. A month later? They said it'll be 30 more days before they even be Wait a minute, wait a minute. An autopsy? Yes. A month later? Mm-hmm. They said it'll be 60 more, they said it'll be 30 more days

before they even would be done with it. No, normal, okay. Again, I've covered a lot of stuff. You typically can have it, you can have a preliminary autopsy report in 24, 48 hours, max 72 hours. Then what they typically say is, they sent the tissue samples off for toxicology reports,

and that comes in later. Normally, you have a preliminary ruling as to the cause of death. Yes. Kelly, your question. I mean, I'm just shaking my head along with everybody here because... I really have no words for just the lack of protocol, lack of respect, lack of just competence from this police department. Is there, regarding the suspect himself, is there any evidence of political connections, personal connections of the suspect with the police department in that jurisdiction?

And secondly, the larger issue being, is there a history? I'm sure most, if not all jurisdictions, police jurisdictions have a history of racism and botched cases. But do you have an idea of just how pervasive the racism is in this jurisdiction? Is this a pattern or is this something that is truly unheard of in Bridgeport? Good question. And I can tell you that I'm from the Bronx, Bronx, New York, and I've been practicing here for 17 years. And from the moment I started practicing here and standing up and giving voice to the people, I've been practicing here for 17 years. And from the moment I started practicing here and standing up and giving voice to the people,

I've been told they're going to come after you. And just like Martin Luther King's letter from the Birmingham jail, I was working on a bunch of cases here. And the prosecutor's office locally came up with some charges against me. And now that same prosecutor is being investigated for fraud. And he's the prosecutor for the entire state. So that's the entire state

of Connecticut. So his name is Richard Colangelo. And this guy has been just a really bad character for a very long time. And so when you break it down to the local jurisdiction, which is Bridgeport, we have the mayor now who did five years in federal prison. Now the chief of police who he appointed is in federal prison now. He's been sentenced to one year. And so it just keeps going, right? And they want to silence anyone who speaks up. The prosecutor who runs the whole state has told people publicly that Darnell has a big mouth and we need to shut him up.

So that's what you get. Now, in terms of this gentleman, to answer your question specifically with him, since this case has gone national, there's been thousands of people reporting and making comments on social media that this gentleman and the Bushwell Police Department are one and the same, that his family has always gotten away with basically murder in that jurisdiction. And a couple people have come forward now to say that they have been on dates with him and he has a pattern of behavior.

And so we're collecting all that with our private investigator, and we're going to really break this case in a direction that hasn't been broken yet because we do believe he's connected. And I'll add this last part to that. When you look at the chain of events, the landlord said that he got a knock on the door around three or four in the morning, and he thought it was the police, but he didn't open. And we believe that that was the responding detective, Detective Cronin. And he left the scene.

And then at around 7.30 or 6.30, this gentleman calls 911. So what we believe is that when he found out that Lauren was dead, he called his buddy, Detective Cronin, and said, hey, come to the scene. Detective Cronin came, tried to help things out. The landlord didn't open. He left and then told this guy, I want you now to call 911. So now he's been taken off the case, and now he's being investigated by Internal Affairs. And so they wouldn't be investigating him

if there wasn't smoke there, if there wasn't fire there. So to answer your question, we do believe he has a strong connection with the Bridgeport Police Department, and the corruption is rampant. Michael, go ahead. All right. Attorney Crossland, thanks for coming on today.

This is a crazy, crazy case. Just quickly, a couple of questions. So with the landlord, this is an apartment building, my understanding. And oftentimes with apartment buildings, they have records on the tenants and their contact numbers for the tenants in case of emergency. Was that the case here with Lauren Smith Fields? Was there contact information on record with the whoever owned the apartment building or the property management company? And then also, is there any talk about, I may have missed it, the state taking over this investigation, the state of Connecticut taking over this investigation?

Well, those are great questions. And I'll start with the first part. The landlord's name is Hector, and he does have that information. We found out from Internal Affairs that Bridgeport has a protocol that said whenever there's a death, the next of kin must be notified within 24 hours. In person, not by phone. If they can't be notified

by phone, then, I mean in person, then they can be notified by phone. In this particular case, they just moved Lauren's body, sent her to the coroner, and the family didn't find out until almost two days later after calling Lauren, calling Lauren, and nobody responding. In terms of the state's attorney's office, as I stated, Richard Colangelo, who's the head prosecutor, is currently being investigated for fraud. And so the family doesn't feel that they can rely on that gentleman to bring any justice. So we're asking for DOJ

or for an outside agency to come in. Thank you. It's unbelievable. The Bridgeport Police did release this statement. They said that on December 12, 2021, the Bridgeport Emergency Operations Center received a

call for service regarding an untimely death upon police arrival. It was found that Ms. Lauren Smith-Fields passed away unexpectedly. This incident is currently being investigated by the Bridgeport Police Department's Detective Bureau. This investigation remains open and active. The Detective Bureau is awaiting the final report from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office for cause and manner of death of Ms. Smith-Fields. The Bridgeport Police Department offers its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lauren Smith-Fields. We encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to contact either Detective Sergeant Joseph Morales at 203-581-5219 or the Bridgeport Police Tips Line, 203-576-8477.

But, Attorney, I'm sorry, you want people with any information? There's only one person who was in the apartment when she-when she died. Really? And they want to take the DNA of my client's mother. After two weeks of leaving the scene unquarantined, they allowed the family to start moving the stuff, start putting her stuff in storage, Lauren's stuff, that is,

and never gave any advisory, like, don't come in or... They let them just move stuff, and then after that, say, oh, by the way, we're going to need to get your DNA because you guys were in the crime scene. And they said, well, you guys didn't tell us that we couldn't move the stuff. And so they're deliberately creating a situation, Roland, as you said, a chain of custody situation,

a tampered space situation. They directly have created this. They've created this. And I just want to let you know about 20 minutes before I got on your show, another family came in my office here and their daughter was found

dead in a gentleman's house the same exact day as Lauren. The same exact day. And they've gone to the Bridgeport Police Department seeking whether someone to investigate. Nothing's happened. They've been treated rudely, a black family as well, rudely and with total disregard.

And like I said, they just left here. And they're seeking justice as well. So they're going to be at the march. We're having a march for Lauren on Sunday, which is her birthday. And this family is going to be there as well. As we see, it's not just isolated to Lauren's family, but

other families as well who are not getting any justice. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Let us know if uh if anyone anyone's going to be live streaming that what we'll do is we'll carry it on our platforms in the black star network and so we can certainly coordinate it with our tech folks uh because we we got to get answers to what the heck happened and again for people to understand these cases basically the actions of these police officers they have just basically gutted any possibility

of the district attorney being able to have any evidence tying him. If you ain't got evidence, guess what? You're screwed. You're screwed. This is unbelievable here. Darnell Cross, go ahead. If the family or your viewers could follow us at Twitter at Darnell Crossland.

That's one S. I noticed your tagline. Okay. So D-A-R-N-E-L-L-C-R-O-S-L-A-N-D. That's a Twitter handle? That's a Twitter handle and Instagram as well. And so we will live stream. I will speak with your executive producer who has been very generous to us,

and I'll give her the link to the live stream. Okay, alright. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot, and certainly give our regards to the Lawrence family. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Let's go back to my panel on this. I mean, this is, Matt, this is, this is the thing that, we talk about this

case, the case that we talked about of the brother who was shot and killed in, uh, Pennsylvania. Uh, four white guys there. They all got guns. The brother ends up dead. Cops interview the guys on the scene. Nobody comes down to the police station. Uh, I mean, it's just...

I mean, it's-it's just absolutely outlandish. It's-it's outlandish, and, and it really reeks of something going on, meaning something shady is happening, because basic police protocol would be if you have somebody on scene, you believe that they were especially sexually involved with the decedent. I mean, you talk to them right there,

you take their phone, you start... You know, that's really what we find a lot of evidence these days. I know you know, Roland, I was a prosecutor. I prosecuted a lot of murder cases and defended a lot of murder cases. And almost invariably, everything is on the phone. So what I didn't get to ask Attorney Crossland is how the police have explained they didn't even take Mr. LaFontaine's phone into custody, because that's common fare these days.

So it sounds like somebody there knew him or somebody there gave some reason that they didn't think they needed to pick him up. But the problem now is the prosecutors are going to have basically no chance to really prosecute this case without it being so full of holes that a defense attorney is going to have a strong case at this point. And it makes no sense, because this is basic police procedure to take somebody on scene into custody, interrogate them, continue doing so, and to collect evidence, like, from the phone.

So, I don't understand what's happening and it's really indefensible at this point. And there may be some criminal and or civil liability following this. And the thing here, Kelly, is simple. Prosecutors need evidence. And so if the cops didn't collect the condom, didn't test the semen, didn't collect his DNA, didn't dust for fingerprints,

didn't do anything else, it doesn't matter what the family discovered because that simply is inadmissible because they can say, oh, you guys planted that. And so the inaction of the police clearly aids this man in any potential defense that he has. the inaction of the police, uh, clearly, uh, aids this man in any potential defense that he has.

They... This is a... This is... This is tantamount to obstruction of justice. Mm-hmm. It absolutely is. But when you say the inaction of the police, it's also the action of the police in that they let the family into the apartment because they did not secure a crime scene at all.

So it's as if they knew that it was a crime scene, but because the family's in there now, any evidence that could be found thereafter is going to be tampered with or just compromised altogether. And it's just infuriating to me that this is so convoluted and so just laden with conspiracy and, and cronyism such that someone who, who clearly, at least from the court of public opinion, clearly did this. You know, I can say allegedly, I know legally it's allegedly, but

from all accounts right now, you know, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, with all that being said, just because of the cronyism, a Black woman yet again is unprotected by the justice system. And that is what's breaking my heart the most. The fact that, yes, you know, things like this happen every day, but when it comes to Black women, the fact that this is not national news is a problem. The fact that I am just hearing about this

through your newscast is a problem. And the fact that this is not a nationwide story that is viral is a problem. Because if this were a Black man in this situation... I'm sorry? Kelly, keep going. Go ahead. man in this situation... I'm sorry? Oh, Kelly, keep going. Go ahead. I thought you said... I apologize.

But the fact that it is not as viral as it needs to be, that is a problem. Because if this were a Trayvon Martin situation or even a Freddie Gray situation, we had viral moments for them. But when it comes to Black women... Actually, actually, hold up, hold up.

I'm going to let you finish that, but with Trayvon, that wasn't the case. What happened to Trayvon was that was... Remember, Trayvon, that what happened to an NBA All-Star game was a Sunday. It was... It was like two or three

months of social media talk. And, hey, why is the case not getting any attention? I remember I was getting some tweets, and the Trayvon, if I'm correct, the Trayvon thing did not go national really until about six weeks to two months after he was killed. It was like, it was the same.

In fact, in many ways, it was the same as this case right here, that it was this buildup. This case has been getting, people are talking on social media. So Freddie Gray, obviously that's different, but, but you can make a comparison that this case is similar to Trayvon in that it took six or eight weeks to actually get some, get some national attention. Oh, absolutely. And I agree with you there. I'm not talking about direct parallels as to timeline. What I'm saying is when it comes to Black boys and Black men in similar situations, they are more likely to go viral.

Their case is more likely to get the attention that it deserves as opposed to Black women. It feels like, and studies show, that it is harder for Black women to get attention in the media. It is harder for Black women to be taken seriously, which is why hashtag protect black women is a hashtag in the first place. There's a reason for that. So that was my point.

Well, look, we're in a situation, Michael, where black folk... Cases of black folks, period. Black people come up missing. You can be a black woman or a black man, come up missing, media ain't giving you no attention. They ain't doing it. I mean, again, we have to yell, holler, scream,

kick, threaten to actually get coverage because you got white folks who control mainstream media. That's just the bottom line. That's what you're dealing with here. But again, you take this case involving this black woman, you take the case we dealt with last Friday of the black man in Pennsylvania,

sort of same... the guy who was from Jamaica, sort of same thing. And that is, the level of interest or attention is not there, and what it does is, it shines a light on these police departments, one in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, one in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they don't give a damn.

Absolutely, Roland. You know, this is another example of white privilege and also the devaluing of the lives of African-Americans, especially African-American women. But, you know, in reading this, and I had heard about this previously on social media, the fact that the police did not contact Bumble to get the correspondence... It's been a month!

...between Lorne and-and Matthew. I mean, and-and reading the story, I was wondering, okay, so, did this guy, did Matthew, did he have any relationships with the police officers or...? Bruh, here's the problem. We don't know, because they ain't investigating nothing.

First of all, how do you not notify the family that she's dead? That's one. Two, how do you sit here and you not take him down to the police station? Okay? How do you not do that? How do you not look around the damn apartment for evidence? How? He says we ain't have sex.

A basic ass check. Oh, damn, there's a condom in a trash can. Oh, there's semen in it. Bring me evidence back, please. Bag this, test that semen. We need your DNA. Do they match? Oh, it matches.

Dude, you just lied to us. You said y'all didn't have sex, so why is there semen? Okay, she goes to the medical examiner's office. You do a rape examination. I mean, you sit, okay, you check her to see. Dude, this is... It's basic. Right, I mean, this is like this is some law and order shit.

Like, you can watch CSI and go um, step one, two, three, four, five, not done. And very often... Very often... Actually, Michael, hold on. I didn't realize Darnell was still there. Darnell, four, five, not done. And very often... How did they... Very often... Actually, Michael, hold on. I didn't realize Darnell was still there.

Darnell, go ahead. Oh, okay. Darnell, you still there? No, I'm sorry. That was Matt. That was Matt. I'm going to say it. That was Matt.

Matt, go ahead. Michael, finish. Matt, go ahead. I would say very quickly what happens in cases like these is police find any way to charge a person that they think is a suspect so they can immediately interrogate them. They might they might charge him with sexual assault rather than the homicide.

They might charge him with, you know, failure to report a death. And a lot of states you have a duty to report a felony. Right. I mean, having been a prosecutor and defense attorney, I see all the time basically phony charges or charges that cops know are not going to stick. So they can get to the ultimate question of did did this person, you know, uh, engage in the homicide? So the fact here that they have somebody who they knew had sex with them was on scene. They didn't take him into custody at all under any pretense, uh, indicates that there's something real shady going on. Mike, go ahead. Mike, go ahead. Well, and the other thing, one of the basic questions is, okay, so how did you two meet?

How long have you known each other? Okay, so, uh, so you're saying you... You met on an app. Pull the records! And then you're saying you slept in the bed together, but you didn't have sex. With clothes on.

With the clothes... I mean, so, none of this makes sense. But the other thing is, uh... Y'all slept in a bed, clothes on, but there was a condom that the family found two weeks later. But the other thing is the fact that the family has to raise money to get an independent autopsy. That's something else that's, you know, just wrong

with this story here. I want to see what the results of the autopsy are. But this police department, Bridgeforth, Connecticut Police Department, sounds like it may need a patterns and practice investigation from the Department of Justice. No, this is just unbelievable. It's absolutely crazy.

Folks, we're going to continue to follow this case, see what happens next. I got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about the craziness happening down in Florida. Rhonda Sanchez, oh my god. You know what?

I think this qualifies for a crazy ass white people segment. I really think it does. But Rhonda Sanchez is pushing the bill so white people are not uncomfortable talking about race, not just in schools, but also in private businesses. I told y'all why my white fear book is dropping. It's just playing out before your very eyes. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered

right here on the Black Star Network. Nå er vi på veien. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Yeah, I think this proposal by the idiot governor of Florida qualifies for the crazy as white people's segment. So here's what's happening. He is pushing a bill that is intended to shield whites from the discomfort of racist past. Like, what the hell does that even mean? Joining me right now is Florida State's,

um, Florida State Representative, uh, uh, Shevrin Jones Jr. I'm just, I don't understand what's going on here. Maybe he can tell us this here. So, uh, glad to have you here, Shevrin, what, what, what, what the hell is this? I asked the same question in committee on Tuesday, uh, to see what asking first, what does individual freedom mean, which I believe is just a guise for them to cover up for individuals who don't understand the process. But this is the part one of Governor

DeSantis' Stop the Woke Act that he proposed earlier within the year, saying that he wanted to stop the teaching of critical race theory, which I have stopped saying and just said true American Black history, wanted to stop the teaching of that and the 1619 Project in our classrooms. But mind you, you and I both know, and everyone across this country knows, that CRT is not taught in our classrooms and is not even taught in DEI trainings. But the governor, this is his national agenda that he's pushing across the country, that he's brought to the state of Florida. And by mind you, Roland, he has not and is not dealing with the more kitchen table issues that needs to be dealt with, like the rising rent costs that we have in South Florida, the rage and hospitalizations that we have.

But yet still, they have made CRT the issue of the year. Look, this is simple, which is why my book is dropping later this year called White Fear. This is about pushing the racial buttons of white people to get these white people angry and upset so they vote. That's what Youngkin did in here in Virginia. And when he won the governor's mansion, he also ran against an awful Democratic opponent in Terry McAuliffe who gave nobody a reason why the hell he deserved a second term as governor. But that's all this is.

We all know it's bullshit. Look, Fox News all of a sudden has broken out the migrants flooding to America video because, again, it's all about the election. Ron DeSantis is appealing to the racial animus of white people.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's... And we've been... I said that earlier today, that Governor DeSantis is doing this to appease to a base. He saw that the base responded to Donald Trump in his executive order

when Donald Trump called for the stops in the teaching of critical race theory. He saw that it was popular among them. And so he just went along with it. If you look at the debate that took place and the questioning that took place in the Education Committee last week, I asked the question to the bill sponsor, what is critical race theory? The bill sponsor, not only did he not answer it, he couldn't even answer why they are putting the bill forth.

And of course, it's red meat for the governor for him to eventually run for president to say, hey, here's my gold trophy. I did everything I said I was going to do across the state of Florida, I mean, across the country. We did it in Florida first. So, the status of...

First of all, you can go to that. This also applies... How the hell does this apply to private businesses? Well, listen, the governor has no... He's no... This is not new for him in what he's doing with private businesses. He did the same thing with private businesses

with vaccine and mask mandates when he called a special session for that to happen. So there's this entire authoritarian leadership that's taken place in Florida period where the governor is totally moving and letting it be known that he is the kingmaker in Florida. That goes for school boards. That goes for local governments. And now that goes to our classrooms. Just, again, just makes no sense whatsoever.

So, all right, we'll be following this. Florida State Senator Chevron Jones, Jr., keep up the good work. Fight in a good fight. Thanks, Fred. Appreciate it. All right. So, let's, okay, y. Thanks, Brett. Appreciate it. All right. So let's... Okay, y'all. Again.

Roll it again. On my property. Whoa! Give me your ID. I'm uncomfortable. All right, so school board meeting here in Virginia just goes nuts during the public speaking portion when this fool stands up and says this. My child, my children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on, all right? That's not happening. And I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to,

I will call every- That's three minutes. You're going past call every. That's three minutes. You're going past your time. It's a policy. Thank you. I'll see y'all on Monday. That was in Page County, Virginia. Now the school district has announced that they have had to step up security for Monday because that crazy-ass white woman literally threatened

to bring loaded guns on Monday. These people, Michael, are sick and demented because they're complaining about a flimsy-ass mask. Roland, in the state where General Robert E. Lee is from also, brother, this is a continuation of the insurrection that took place called the Civil War. This is a continuation of that. You can draw a direct line from the Civil War and the attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, and what happened January

6, 2021. These people have lost their minds. So, you know, they need to buff up, they need to beef up security there to deal with people like her. And if you look at what's coming out of the January 6 committee, you look

at what's, I mean, right here in Michigan, you have these fake electors showing up to the state capitol. OK, when the certification was trying to take place, you have fake electors in five states. So this is this is all coordinated. This is a fear of the browning of America. This is a continued backlash to two terms of President Barack Obama. And, you know, this critical race theory thing, I talked about this last night on my show, it's called the Individual Freedom Bill out of Florida. The Individual Freedom Bill. And these are things that they're going to use

as culture wars in the 2022 midterm election, but also 2024 as well. So, brother, we have to be vigilant, be ready, and fight against this and defeat them again. The South may rise again, but also 2024 as well. So, brother, we have to be vigilant, be ready, and fight against this and defeat them again. The South may rise again, but they ain't gonna rise it's not gonna be a white supremacist South that rises again. Nah, let me tell you

something, Matt. I think this is one of those... I think the school district messed up. They stopped her because her time was up. They should have let her ass finish, and when she finished, they should have said, I'm sorry, she's just been a terroristic threat. You're under arrest.

Exactly. That's what I was going to say is most insidious about this, because if it was a black parent that stood up and said, I'm coming back next week with every loaded gun I have, they would have been taken into custody right there. It's per se a terroristic threat. That's really what's problematic here beyond this crazy lady, is that we know that if it was a Black parent, we'd be having a different conversation. We'd be talking about a Black parent who's in

custody for having made a threat at a school board meeting. So what I would like to know from the local authorities is how they don't take her into custody on site. Beefing up security is a consequence of white privilege, because if it's a black parent, she's taken into custody right there. They don't let her come back on Monday to potentially have the guns. I don't understand how that happened in this case. I'm telling you,

look, these people, they're nuts, they're crazy, and you cannot play nice with these people, Kelly. They need to be dealt with as the white domestic terrorists that they are. I was just about to say, these are terrorists,

and you don't negotiate with terrorists, right? But for me, it is literally easier to do the right thing in this case. And it makes no sense to me how you can go through such extremes just to be stupid. Like, it is baffling to me. It is harder to bring guns to the school to defend your right to not wear a piece of cloth across your face. It is harder for you to protest to a school board.

It is harder for you not to get the vaccine. It is, it's just harder. And when it comes to DeSantis down in Florida, I mean, again, with the stupidity, it's just, how do you make white people feel comfortable about something that they did? You know, it's like, how do you assuage white guilt outside of getting rid of the grandparents who did it in the first place? You know, unless you're talking about some type of... of genocide or something.

Like, I don't understand how it is the victim's, uh, responsibility for your guilt in this situation. Especially... And how do you measure it? How do you... Like, how do you... So, like, what? Somebody says something and somebody goes, I'm uncomfortable. Right!

I'm uncomfortable. So now, so one white person goes, I'm uncomfortable, so it's kind of like, okay, well, the session's over. Um, the discussion is over. That's... Sorry. Sorry, Kelly. Uh, you can't finish your presentation because Becky is uncomfortable.

And when you think about all the times that black people have been in uncomfortable situations because white people have said the most egregious, stupid, insidious thing to our faces in mass, in courtrooms, in classes, in meetings, in corporate, in, like, think of a time. It was probably yesterday for a lot of us. Or today. Who knows, depending on your work situation.

It happens for minorities and Black people every single day. So for us to basically tell you the truth about yourself and that making you uncomfortable, therapists say you need to lean into that and work it out, not stray away from it. So again, with just the stupidity of it all, the caucasity of it all, if you will. Yeah, I just, it's like, y'all, seriously,

these people are crazy. That's what they are. All right, I got to go to a break. When we, my goodness. All right, first off, announced yesterday, folks, I partnered with McDonald's to give out $715,000 scholarships to HBCU juniors and seniors. And so, all you have to do, folks, is go to TMCF.org.

Again, if you go to HBCU, it does not matter if it's a Thurgood Marshall College Fund, if it's a UNCF supported school, it doesn't matter. You have all of the guidelines there on the website. It is in honor of the 115th anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated and our founders, the Seven Jewels. It's all there.

And so, again, folks, please be sure to go there. And y'all, this is real money, okay? We're doing this because there are a lot of our students who when they become juniors and seniors, they can't afford to stay. And so many folks are not graduating. This, this is seven $15,000 scholarships, and so the deadline is February 28th,

and so apply. Don't sit here and act like, you know, it's like, oh, I'mma wait. No, apply, and let's actually make this thing possible. Okay, folks, we'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We've got to deal with it.

It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece.

Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's gonna happen. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up, I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. My name is Charlie Wilson.

Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Shout out to Claflin University. Shout out to Claflin University. Shout out to Claflin University. I'm rocking their gear today here in Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all. President Joe Biden is beginning his second year as president. And marijuana advocates say his campaign promises on marijuana policy are unfulfilled.

The creation of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is a positive step. But people like Dr. Shonda Mias say Biden needs to do more. She joins me now from Washington, D.C. Shonda, glad to have you here. First and foremost, let me give folks your title. So I did not have it in the script. You're the founder of the National Holistic Healing Center, correct? That is correct.

Okay. So, all right. So let's talk about, so what is the deal? What more should he be doing? And what did he promise when it came to cannabis while running? Well, we really thought that there was going to be more activity in terms of the medical cannabis programs really expanding through the Biden administration. But what was really important is that, with that awareness that he brought during his campaign, we saw more states legalizing more social equity programs, so minorities like myself can go into multi-markets and to really start to expand our footprint in cannabis.

But from there, what we saw is that we need more of Congress and the White House to really coordinate better on legislation that will be sensible, common-sense legislation, like the Safe Banking Act that we've been pushing for the last couple of years, because I need access to capital. If I'm going to stay a viable small business operator, a black woman in the space, and you know how hard it is for us to get a loan. Otherwise, I need to be able to get it through capital markets. And it's just been challenging. So having sensible legislation like safe banking is imperative for me just to stay in the industry. The other thing I want to say, Roland, that's really-

Now, hold on. Before you go there, but on that point, you're talking about what President Biden should be doing, but what is Congress doing? First of all, where does that bill stand in the House? Where does it stand in the Senate? Yeah, there's still much debate. We had a lot of our congressional leaders that I've spoke to firsthand debating some of that, those policies. Now, the question is that who is it going to benefit? And for me, as a Black woman who's an operator, it's going to help me have access to capital markets. I'm in multiple states right now with my operations, and it's really hard to have them funded. I bootstrapped most of my operations day to day. And where you see other companies, public and private, raising multi-millions for

a $40 billion industry. And I am just begging for entry-level funding. This is the thing that we've been talking about, Matt, that one of the problems when we talk about this very issue is how the dispensaries are being handed out, how in many of these states African-Americans are not even participating in the process, how California's had the issues, Illinois has had them. You get the black caucus in New Jersey who said,

we ain't approving a damn thing unless y'all make sure that black folks are getting a piece of this. We were most impacted by anybody when it came to the marijuana laws. And so, you know, this is just one of those things that, you know, getting a dispensary is one thing, but the bottom line is if you don't have the resources to be able to grow, It's like any other industry.

When we're locked out of the money, no ability to build capacity. We're locked out the markets. And not only that, Roland, what's important here is that you also have a population of African-American men. You have people who were patients that went to prison. And so if we don't implement some type of clemency

program, expungement or pardon programs, it's not fair to send a patient to prison. And there is no way to fix that wrong that was done to that returning citizen. Matt, question, comment? First, thank you for joining us, Dr. Macias. And the question I have is, what is the movement in terms of finding, I guess, a resolution to the schizophrenia that we have in terms of there being a different patchwork of rules as it relates to the states and the feds? What is the Biden administration doing to give, basically,

assurance that all citizens have the same access to cannabis and its lifesaving qualities? So we haven't seen much movement on that side. And I think that is the topic of our discussion now. and what we're really requesting, not only the Biden administration, but Congress to step forward and have just common sense policy around cannabis possession, treating cannabis as medicine, and really a healthcare need for hundreds of thousands of people. Kelly.

Hi, again, thank you for coming on the show. Regarding marijuana and cannabis in general, I think it would help the audience and others to understand exactly the many benefits of cannabis so that it doesn't look like people are just kind of wanting to smoke just for the sake of smoking. So if you could expound on just some of the many benefits of cannabis and why it should be integrated into society, such as any other type of herbal supplement, that would be great.

DR. Yeah, definitely. And that's where a lot of my business really focuses on, is the education of cannabis. I've helped patients, thousands of patients, really find the right strain and form of medicine that helps them with their health care needs. So whether it's cancer, epilepsy, pain, autism, ADHD, there are different medicines in cannabis that have been formulated to really address the different health care needs in our society. Michael. Dr. Massage, thanks for coming on and shedding light on this topic. In the infrastructure bill, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, it contains language that is meant to promote marijuana research.

Can you talk a little bit about that? And then also when you talk about Congress, have you talked to any of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus? And have they given you any advice on moving the momentum to get the bills passed through Congress? Yeah. So let's talk about really what it looks like to be a victim on the war on drugs. So when you think about where a patient really saw the health care need to use cannabis and it was illegal, they did it because they had access to that medicine.

And so now we look at how it actually served as a pipeline to prison. In that pipeline to prison, if you then block research and you can deny people the visibility of the health care benefits of cannabis and use it really to promote the P&L sheet of a private or a public prison system, you're making a lot of money. And when you start to systemically break down that pipeline and look at it and how it can impact our economy, whether it's law enforcement, the legal workforce. And you think about all the mandatory minimums put in place, probable cause, arrests actually starting from minors and building that prison system all the way up into incarceration and all the vendors that actually sustain the prison system. You understand why legalization or the denial of research has happened,

because it's a big-money business. The war on drugs really funded a $40 billion prison system and, um, pipeline that I consider is slavery 2.0. We couldn't get free labor from us, so then let's just make money on us and our lives in a different way. And that's what's been happening. So, yes, I've spoken to Cory Booker. Less than a month ago, Troy Carter out of Louisiana has been pivotal to this message in pushing this movement

ahead. We have to do something for our community to prepare and make sure that our future generations are not impacted like our past. I'm fighting for health care, but I'm also fighting for my son's freedom. I don't want him to go to prison because he chooses cannabis as medicine. Michael. I just asked a question. Well, actually, we'll talk about this here, Mike. I want you to bring up what's happening in Michigan, because y'all are having the same problem in Michigan when it comes to dispensaries. Yeah.

Well, here in Detroit, where I live, we see with the dispensaries, we see them disproportionately going to white people, the dispensaries. So that's one of the issues here in Michigan. And I remember we had the bill a few years ago. It was about probably about two or three years ago that passed. The state legislature signed the law and it dealt with treating marijuana like alcohol. OK, but it has to be. We, we've made these advancements on the state level, but at the federal level, as Dr. Masias is saying, it's really critical because with the dispensaries, for instance, they can't open up bank accounts and deposit the money that they

make from the dispensary into bank accounts because of federal regulations. All right. And then one of the other things that I think is really important for us to understand how to navigate through as somebody that used to be involved in the job matching company and helped a lot of African Americans gain employment. And we had a lot of people who could not pass drug tests. How do we we navigate as states pass laws for recreational marijuana, but at the same time, you still have restrictions on when it comes to employment, because a lot of jobs may still require you to be able to pass a drug test, okay? How do we navigate that as well? So we have different things coming together at the same time, and you have to have this change at the federal level as well, because if it's not changed at the federal level, it's going to cripple African-American owned businesses and dispensaries when they deal with federal regulations. Definitely. which is how it impacts black businesses in the cannabis industry.

There's only less than 4% of minority ownership in the cannabis business. Now, hold on, hold on. You said minority. What's the black number? That minority is over there, by the way. Well, that's the black number. Got it, 4% black.

4% black. Yeah, because on this show, we specific. So when we hear minority, that's everybody. So we real specific on black. We're real specific on black. Yeah, because on this show, we specific. So we here, Minority, that's everybody. So we real specific on black. We're real specific on black. And there's less than 4%. And then this is a nationwide phenomenon. So if you think about what that looks like on the micro level,

you look at Michigan. But not only Michigan, you look at Maryland, you look at D.C., you look at, you know, other D.C., you look at, you know, other states, this is reflective in all numbers. We're not represented. And those licenses go to those that usually can show proof of funds, the funds we don't have access to. We have been denied generational wealth. We have the knowledge. We have the education. And when we look for funding, we don't have it, and we're not allowed to have licenses because of it. Again, it's a systemic issue that has been plaguing our community. So then you go and ask the question, federally,

what can we do? Well, federally, we need to protect minority-owned businesses, whether they're cannabis or plant touching or not. We need the assistance to be able to come up with funding sources so that we could actually participate in the $40 billion program. All right, then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks so much. We'll keep looking out to see what happens with this story as well. All right. Thank you, Roland. Thank you, team. All right, folks. Yesterday, we were talking about priorities of President Joe Biden, and one of the

things that's critically important, Biden has appointed eight Black women to the federal, first of all, to key federal bench positions, which equals the total number of Black women to ever serve on the federal bench, but it doesn't stop there. Biden's 83 federal appoint positions, which equals a total number of black women to ever serve on the federal bench. But it doesn't stop there. Biden's 83 federal appointees, 24 have been black and 62 judges have been women. That's something, Kelly, that people are talking about. Oh,

you know, he hasn't done anything. You can't act like that doesn't exist. Not only can you not act like it doesn't exist, you can't act like it doesn't matter because it absolutely does. Just because you are not directly affected by the justice system does not mean that it is not an important aspect to the American system as a whole. When you have diversity on the bench,

that means you have experience, diverse experience on the bench. And when everybody's not a white man, that means that those who aren't can understand the plight of those on either side of the bench, be it plaintiff or defendant or prosecution or defense. And when you have that kind of perspective, you have a lot more cases that have a fairer outcome and a more equitable outcome such that, you know, the justice system will actually work in our favor. So I applaud Biden for doing this, not, you know, taking anything away from him and certainly not giving him anything more than he deserves. Like, there's definitely more work that needs to be done, but this is an excellent step in the right direction towards diversifying

our justice system so that it works for everyone involved. And Matt, for the people who go, okay, man, this is no big deal, well, guess what? Republicans sure understand how vital those federal nominations are, those federal appointees. And these are lifetime appointees.

Right. They serve forever. And I'm glad you said that. To give an example to the viewers, Judge Carlton Reeves, a black man in Mississippi, wrote a 72-page opinion, I guess in 2020 2020 about qualified immunity. So when you talk about police reform and when you talk about wanting to make strides, for instance, in qualified immunity, it's important to have judges with lived experience who can write an opinion that says,

we all know that this doctrine is bogus and we know that this doctrine needs to be removed. And the reality is, a Black woman is gonna understand that a lot more than a lot of other people who are serving on the bench. So this is incredibly important. And as somebody who practices in front of federal judges every day, I need those federal judges to have lived experience.

And I think these black women and the ones to come after will be imperative to really making sure our justice system is fairer. And it's so hilarious, Michael. I've got some fool, Lane Rollins, in the chat talking about rolling focus on brown people, people of color. Fool, what the hell do you think we're talking about right now? We're talking about black people.

I mean, this is the stupidity that drives me crazy. We are literally talking about black federal judges. You're talking about Donald Trump, nearly 90% of the federal judges he appointed were white.

Were white. I think after four years, I think it was two. Right, one was from Flint, Michigan. Maybe three black judges appointed in four years. In four years. Out of 226.

Out of 226. Out of 226. In one year, Biden has named 24 black judges, eight of them women. Well, you know, Roland, this is a perfect example of how oftentimes the talking points that African-Americans get from social media,

one, they don't understand. Two, they don't understand things like this and why this is so important. These are lifetime appointments. Donald Trump nominated about either one quarter or one third of the federal judges. And then three Supreme Court judges with the help of Moscow Mitch McConnell. 25 percent. 25 percent. You've got about 800 or so federal judges, but you also have those who are retired who still hear cases.

He appointed 25% of the entire federal judiciary. In fact, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considered the most liberal, they now have a majority conservative on the Ninth Circuit. Right. Exactly. And then if you look at somebody like Mara Selby, who was up for a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that is also over Chicago, she was nominated by President Barack Obama in

2016. Her nomination was blocked by Mitch McConnell. They did not give her a hearing, okay, just like they did Merrick Garland. Then, when Donald Trump became president, who did they fill her seat with? They filled her seat with Amy Coney Barrett, which then put Amy Coney Barrett on the trajectory to get pushed through to the U.S. Supreme Court. These people are playing grandmaster-level chess. We're playing beginner's checkers

and don't even understand all the rules to checkers. So this is something extremely important. Once again, this is the role of the president, but you need the Senate, you need control of the Senate to get these federal judges confirmed. This is one of the reasons why the Senate and maintaining control of the Senate is so important as well. Yep, and so, yeah, so for the people...

And-and-and again, before I go to break, let me, like, connect this dot right here. And, Matt, I want you to speak to it. All y'all bitching and moaning about, man, this really ain't no big deal. Let me explain something to y'all. When the conservatives sued the Affordable Care Act, that went through the federal judiciary. A federal judge just struck down

the Biden vaccine mandate for businesses. I grew up in Texas. Do you know what's burned in my head? The name William Wayne Justice. Why in the hell would I have burned into my brain the name of a white federal judge in Texas? Because he was the one who ruled how decrepit, degrading, and shameful the Texas prison system was, and he had oversight of the Texas prison system for more than two decades.

I grew up watching news, and all I would hear, Judge William Wayne Justice, Judge William Wayne Justice, a federal judge. Reuben Hurricane Carter was convicted in a state court, yet it was a federal judge who chose to listen, who actually ignored the precedent and chose to listen to the new evidence and freed Reuben Hurricane Carter.

I can go on and on about the importance, the role that federal judges play when it comes to class action lawsuits, when it comes to police brutality, when it comes to all kinds of stuff. But for all these dumbasses out there hollering, oh, man, these judges ain't really know that that ain't really nothing that benefiting black people, you have

got to be stuck on stupid and out of your mind. Go ahead, Matt. You said it, brother. I don't even need to say anything beyond this. Let me tell you the role of judges. I live in Texas, as you know, and I practice in the Fifth Circuit. If I try a case in the Fifth Circuit or file a case in the Fifth Circuit,

what can happen to my client here is completely different than what'll happen in the Ninth Circuit. Why is that? Because they're completely different judges. So when the president appoints judges, it's crucial because that can potentially level the playing field so that people all across America have a better access to justice.

And they're gonna serve forever. Your normal state judge is gonna be subject to potentially being voted out of office or reappointed, depending on the state that you live in, but the federal judges serve until they either choose to retire or until they pass away. So somebody being put on the bench has decades of consequences, which is why it's so important to make sure that, you know, the president is appointing good people with lived experience. Absolutely. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back.

Black and Missing of the Day. And we got some other stories to talk about. Plus, we'll be taking your phone calls. Hopefully we have the issues sorted out in terms of our phone lines so we can take your phone calls. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. ТРЕВОЕННАЯ МУЗЫКА What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer.

Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. What's up? I'm Lana Wells, and you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. We'll be right back. Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-8477. 215-686-8477. A jury has been selected in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd. Jay Alexander King, Thomas Lane, and Tao Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority as Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd to the street in 2020. Federal prosecutors will have to prove the officers intentionally violated Floyd's liberty

without due process and unlawfully seized him. During jury selection, the judge stressed that Chauvin's conviction on state murder charges and his guilty plea to a federal civil rights violation should not influence the proceedings. Opening statements will begin on Monday. In Oklahoma, a judge revokes the bond of a white businessman accused of killing his black employee. Judge Susan Worthington revoked the bond of Daniel Triplett on Friday after prosecutors

say he visited a bank drive-thru in a local Waffle House in violation of his bond conditions. Worthington allowed Triplett to be released on a $500,000 bond last month over the objection of prosecutors and the victim's family. Triplett is accused of murdering and burying Brent Mack under a septic tank in September. An attorney for the victim's family says he believes Triplett was granted bond because he is a prominent white businessman accused of killing a black man. That's the thing that, again, we talk about when we see these cases, Matt, that's just crazy. You go, how in the world?

Look, and in fact, that guy was only put in jail because of protest. He was out and about chilling. He was, and I'm glad to see that this judge didn't give any leeway on the bond restrictions. I mean, if you get bond on a major case like murder, you really got to step tight. And if you don't, I'm glad they revoked his bond. Fortin, can you hear me?

Yeah, we hear you. Guys, it's going over the air. Y'all talking off air, please. Matt, keep going. I was just saying that I'm glad that the judge held him to task because he got bonded in a major case. And if that bond was not followed, he should have that bond revoked. But I also want to commend the victim's attorney.

That's the same attorney who is leading the Justice for Greenwood lawsuit, and they're doing some really wonderful work there. So, Mr. Simmons and his team, I want to shout them out. You know, we just sit here and we go through this over and over and over again, Kelly, when we look at these cases here. And I just keep saying, you know, black people end up getting killed by all these white folks. And we got to, oh my God, we got to, we got to, frankly, it's amazing they holler, oh, you're burning stuff down. Well, hell, you don't, you don't listen to us any other way. You don't get anybody's... Like, you got to do something crazy to get people's attention to get basic

simple justice, to get somebody arrested. And, again, like you said, if you didn't have such an injustice in this system constantly, we wouldn't have to feel like we have to burn things down. We wouldn't have to feel like we need to riot every single

time something like this happens. It should not be an anomaly, cases like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. That should be the norm. But because we are so used to the injustice, because we are so used to being oppressed, we don't even have the wherewithal. We can't have, we can't conceptualize an actual, a justice system that actually affirms us and makes sure that we are also protected. Michael. Yeah, Roland, you know, this is some more white privilege. I mean, Triplett was spotted going through the bank drive-thru. I mean, he didn't think that, apparently he didn't think he had to follow the stipulations of the $500,000 bond he had to post.

So, and once again, I'm glad the judge revoked his bond, but this is an example of how judges matter as well. Judges matter also. So hopefully this, you know, this is a heinous, he's accused of heinous crimes. He's innocent of proving guilty,

but hopefully this brother who was killed and his family get justice. Absolutely. All right, folks, we'll go to Illinois where homeowners can finally get racist language removed from their property deeds. A new law went into effect on January 1st allowing homeowners with discriminatory language

in their deeds to file a restrictive covenant modification for $10 with the state's attorney. The state's attorney will then have 30 days to review the claim, approve the file, the modification to the deed. The request, of course, also can be denied. In the 1948 Shelley v. Kramer case, the U.S. Supreme Court filed restrictive covenants in property deeds that prohibited property sales to people of color color violated the 14th Amendment.

Again, what it means to be black in America. All right, y'all. Several black Mississippi lawmakers. Remember we were talking about critical race theory and how they walked out when a vote was taken. So watch this video. Thank you, Mr. President. I request a roll call okay

roll call has been requested six or more to stand i'm sorry final passage my apologies final passage role will be taken mr clerk please call the roll barnett barrett blackman blackwall blunt boy branny Blackwell? Aye. Blunt? No. Boyd? No. Brannning? No. Bryan?

No. Butler? No. Of the 36? No. Butler of the 38? Carter? No.

Kaufman? No. Chazinol? No. Chisholm? No. DeBar? No.

Delano? No. England? No. Fillingame? No. Chisholm, Debar, Delano, England, filling game, Frasier. In Mississippi, of course, the Republicans have a bill that so-called bans critical race theory in schools. All 14 black Democratic state senators withheld their votes when they walked out. However, the bill still passed 32 to 2, with two white Democratic senators voting against the bill. Look, this is the thing that has to happen. Now, y'all check this out. It gets better. Senator Michael McClendon introduced the bill because he wanted to ensure

no child is taught they are superior or inferior to another. But when asked by Senator Derrick Simmons if critical race theory was being taught, well, you know what happened. Do we teach science in our schools? Yes, sir. Should we teach science in our schools accurately? Absolutely. What about race and racism?

Should we teach race and racism in our schools accurately? I believe we're doing that and this bill is not changing the way anything about our past. All this bill says that no child shall be told that they're superior or inferior to another. That's all this bill does. So all the history in the state of Mississippi all the way up to the changing of the state flag, all of that still can be taught in our schools

with the passage of this bill? Yes, sir. And how we got to the point that we got to in 2020 when we changed the flag. We can also teach the true history about that in our schools if this bill becomes law that is my intent yes sir okay all this bill does is no child is superior or inferior to another

and we should not teach that that someone is okay the horrific thing that happened to Mamie Teal's son. Can we teach that in our schools with the passage of this bill? Absolutely. I watched the movie last night, as a matter of fact. And the fact of how civil rights workers came to this state from all over the country to help African Americans to enjoy the full rights of citizenship, we can still teach that in our schools if this bill becomes law. This bill says no child should be told that they are superior to any other,

regardless of their sex or race or religion or ethnicity. It's very simple. And Senator, I will end like I started. Have you identified one teacher, one school district, anywhere in the state of Mississippi where this is happening? I have not personally. No, sir. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Mr. President. I just get a kick out of these silly-ass bills.

We just want to make sure that no child is taught that they are superior or inferior to another child. No, we know exactly what they're trying to do, Michael. Trying to galvanize. They're trying to galvanize their base for 2022 because they're not pushing any bills that benefit these white people that keep putting them in office. If you look here at the article now, the bill is titled Critical Race Theory, but the text of the bill does not mention critical race theory at all. If you ask any of those Republicans in Mississippi what critical race theory is, they can't tell you, okay? And then it says, the bill says that any sex, race,

ethnicity, you cannot teach that any sex, race, or ethnicity is inherently superior or inferior, or that individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, or ethnicity. Now, what teacher is teaching that the child, a particular child is inferior, a particular child is superior, something like this? This is a solution looking for a problem. This stuff doesn't exist. Okay? So once again, this is going to be—see, these efforts are funded by dark money.

Okay? These efforts are funded by right- wing think tanks, things like this. And they're using this as well as the voter suppression bills to galvanize their base to come out and win 2022 and 2024. We got to fight against this. I just I just get get a big kick out of out of how these people play the game, Kelly. So you put critical race theory in the title, but you don't mention the end of bill. We know what the hell you're doing. I don't know if this has been addressed on your show or anywhere, really. I don't understand how these bills are still being upheld by law because to me they are vague and overbroad

and that is a violation of your first amendment rights so you cannot have a bill such that is so vague and overbroad that it stifles your your right to free speech so how is this a constitutional bill how is it being upheld and you can't even enact upon it. You can't enforce something like this. So I don't even understand why this bill is in existence. But aside from that, the fact that they're saying, quote, any sex, race, ethnicity is inherently inferior or superior, that you cannot teach that, but that's been taught for years across the Bible Belt and nationwide by way of how these textbooks are set up in the first place regarding whiteness and white supremacy. If you look in history books right now, or I shouldn't say right now because I haven't been in school, but when I was growing up, we had history books that depicted Egyptians as white, like lily white. And the slaves or the enslaved in these books

were depicted as the darkest of skin. So you can't say that we are not having this debate as to who's inferior or superior. You can't have something like that being discussed if you're not going to talk about the books already in place that already imply that whiteness is superior. So unless you're going to take those books out,

this law is null and void. And frankly, by the looks of it, it's unconstitutional. Matt, your thoughts? See, I don't like going after Michael and Kelly because they answer the question so fully. I don't have too much

to add beyond hit dogs holler and critical race theory has become a dog whistle for everybody who's trying to run for president or otherwise some other office in the next cycle. That's all it comes down to. I'll say I don't even know that they care that the bill is actually passed. What they want to be able to do is put those who are feeling some kind of way, particularly white people,

obviously, put them at ease by saying, I see you, I feel you, and I'm going to make it such that people can't make you feel bad about the actual history of our country. So that's what it is. It's a dog whistle. Most of them don't even understand what critical race theory is. And frankly, I don't know how much they care. They just want to galvanize the support, as Michael said, very early. Absolutely. All right, folks, I got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to talk about our Education Matters segment. Homeschooling is an option for an increasing number

of African-Americans, plus taking your phone calls. No topic. Whatever you want to talk about, we're here to take your phone calls. That is next right here, rolling back and unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Aretha and I met as a result of a friend of mine named Ben Vereen. She was standing in the mirror in front of, you know the lights go around the star mirror, and dressed in

white and getting ready to perform and she was standing up and she saw my reflection in the mirror and she gave to perform, and she was standing up, and she saw my reflection in the mirror, and she gave a little, ah, you know, and I gave a little, ah. The mutual admiration. Oh yeah, for sure, for sure. She expressed at that time that she wanted to, she had moved to California, and she wanted to take lessons in acting.

She wanted to do some acting. And I was, like I said, I teach. Right. You know, I was teaching for 12 years. And so I said, well, I teach acting. And if you want, come, come down to my classes. One evening, class was very disruptive. They were all at the window. You know, get back here. You know, come on, we got a class. What are you doing? A limousine just pulled up.

You know, a lady got out in a fur coat. She walked into the class. And my first reaction was, you're late. Ha, ha, ha! You told the queen she was late. She was. You wouldn't let her know I'm the teacher. And I'm serious.

And I think that's what she came to find out. Was I serious? And I was. And so we became serious. Serious enough where you got married. That's as serious as it gets. MUSIC I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. MUSIC MUSIC All right, folks. A growing number of black families have started teaching their kids at home. The COVID pandemic and the growing concern of racism in schools are a couple of reasons for the dramatic increase. The Census Bureau's Household Pulse survey found in April 2020, 3% of black households homeschooled their children. By October 2020, it was up to 16%.

Those numbers may not be completely accurate, the bureau noted, because a lot of children were learning at home in 2020 due to COVID. So partway through the survey period, the homeschooling question was expanded to clarify that homeschoolers did not include children enrolled in public or private school. Even so, the numbers signal a significant increase.

Jennifer Duckworth and Yolanda Chandler, co-founders of Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham, joining me right now. How y'all doing? So... Hi Ray, how you doing? How are you? Doing great.

So why did y'all... First of all, when did you start making the decision to homeschool your children? Why did you start this organization? Okay, well, thank you for having us. Well, I started homeschool your children? Why'd you start this organization? Okay, well, thank you for having us. Well, I started homeschooling. I have two sets of kids. The first set, we started homeschooling

when black homeschoolers were really an anomaly. So back in 2005, we did that all the way until my kids were seniors in high school, juniors and almost a senior high school. And then I had another set of children and we've been homeschooling for about four years now. Yes. And we started homeschooling when my son was going into kindergarten. He's in fifth grade now and we have three kids. One is in third grade and my youngest is in kindergarten. And we started because we just wanted the opportunity to build a solid foundation for them that we could trust.

Now obviously, a lot is required to homeschool. That means one of the parents is not working. That means, and so for folks out there who are single, how does that work? Does it have to be the parent? Could someone actually, let's say, have, if they want to, if they have the resources, hire a tutor to homeschool their child? How do the rules work? Well, it actually depends on, homeschool is governed by each individual state. There is no federal mandate for homeschooling. So it's actually each parent, if you're interested in homeschooling, what we advise them to do is check the laws within their state. Here in Alabama, really homeschooling is about an individual choice for family members. So even though we may outsource certain subjects, it's really difficult

when you're talking about sending your child to someone else to homeschool, because really the importance of the homeschool, we always say family first, school second. So the whole idea of homeschooling is not to get traditional education in the sense as if you're sending your kid off to be taught by someone else. But the parent has lots of involvement with the child and is able to pick up on that child's strengths and weaknesses and really ignite what their passions are. So if a single person or someone who wants to homeschool,

we would really suggest that they first look at the laws within their state and then reach out from there. Questions from the panel. Let's see. I'll start with Matt. So I don't want Matt to follow Kelly and Michael. Go ahead. Thank you, Roland. I appreciate that. Thank you, sisters, for joining us. The quick question I had is, are there federal or state monies that you've seen in Alabama or otherwise that Black families can utilize to subsidize the cost of homeschooling? So books or resources, are there monies out there, if I'm interested in doing this, that will help me defray the cost I might have to teach my children at home?

Well, there's no, as I said before, because there's no federal mandate for homeschooling, it's really an individual choice. So when a family chooses to homeschool, they're really opting out of all of those free resources and the things that you would generally get if you were in a public school setting. The great thing about the pandemic, if we could say that there was anything great about the pandemic, because of course, you know, it was very stressful and traumatic for all of us. But one of the things that came out of homeschooling for homeschooling families was that because the entire country was homeschooling at a certain point in a sense. So there were a lot of things that families who traditionally homeschooled before the pandemic, we had to pay

for. But we were able to take advantage of all the things that were free. But one of the things that I would advise anyone who's interested in homeschooling is don't jump into thinking that you have to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to homeschool. If you have a library card, if you have access to a computer, if you have access to members within your community who are willing to talk to your kids, those are great starters. So it doesn't really cost a whole lot to homeschool if that's what you decide to do. Homeschooling, of course, is big business, but just like anything else, you don't have to put the horse before the cart. You can homeschool with the minimal amount of money spent.

You can get your friendly with your local librarians, as we have. We spend a lot of time in our local libraries. There's lots of free resources that you can get in that way. And one thing I might add is the reason why we started the Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham is because Yolanda and I were looking for a community that fit our cultural needs. And from the past three years that we have been together, we have had families to step up and actually say, well, hey, I can create a design class or, hey, I can create a debate class or, hey, I can create a music class.

So that in itself creates what some might consider a community co-op. And the resources are not as expensive because it's in-house within our own community and it helps offset the cost. And also it helps with community and the social aspect that most people are hesitant about when it comes to homeschooling. So we've had a lot of success and we're so grateful for our moms and fathers that volunteer within our community. Let's see here. Michael. All right. Hello, Jennifer and Yolanda. This is Michael M. Hotep.

Thanks for coming on today. Michael, you're going to do a whole damn introduction. May I ask a question? Michael, ask a question. Roland, I talked about them. Michael, but you're going to do a whole... No, I'm not. I'm Roland. I've already said your name.

The only thing your ass didn't give was your Zodiac sign. It's Gemini. Don't let them do it like that, Michael. Damn! Now ask the question. What type of resources do you all use when you teach history, science? Because that's one of the problems.

I speak at a black homeschooling expo usually each year. And this is one of the problems that parents have trying to find resources, curriculums, things like that, especially when it deals with history. So what type of advice can you give? Well, I could say that, like Yolanda said, we utilize our library a lot. And we have actually started working with our local library to create programs that are specifically for our culture, the black and brown community. And they have been so amazing about saying, well, what is it that you need? And we actually did a field trip where we took a tour of our local library and the librarian told us about the online resources that were available to us. All you had to have is a library card, as well as the in-house resources, like the

the homeschool section that they have. Like That's another thing. When Yolanda was talking, curriculum is something that we like to say is a tool. So you need to learn what your goal and your vision is for your family and the environment that you want to set up for your children and your family before you just hop into any kind of curriculum, because that's how you lose money because you're like, oh my gosh, this doesn't work. Oh my goodness. I don't like this. I don't even want to teach it. And so therefore you've wasted like six weeks of your, your study time when you could have gone to the library or you could have gone to your local Barnes and Nobles, picked out a book, saw if it worked for your family. And if it didn't, you could say, oh,

well, that was a library book so we can return it. And it was not as much in our pocket because like Yolanda said, we do have to fund that. And if we have those resources, then that helps a lot with the learning process. And let me just add, my first year homeschooling with my oldest son, I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that he was struggling in school and that I needed to do things differently. So what we did was we focused on two subject areas, math and reading. So I went to Barnes & Noble and I got a workbook. We took our time. We worked through that. There's a great program online that you can go to that's free, that provides free math resources. And that's what we did. I didn't know any different. I just knew that my son needed some undivided

attention that he wasn't getting in the private school that I was spending so much money sending him to. So I just took my time with him. And that's the beauty of homeschooling, that it's a journey. So we don't have to cram everything into one school year or separating it into semesters or nine weeks or whatever, it's really a journey. So if my child really needs extra help with math, then I can take my time and I can do that and I can zero in on the areas that he needs and not just going through an entire workbook or an entire textbook because someone else says that this is what my child is supposed to be learning at this stage. And I might add just real quick that that's the beauty

of our homeschool community where I have a Yolanda in my life. I have several other moms who are older in the homeschool journey and they can say, girl, please do not even waste your time. And then they might also say, we had a lot that we learned from this particular book or workbook or system. And it helps a lot just for us to kind of go on that journey and we're not alone. Kelly, no zodiac signs. No zodiac signs. But I will say my experience with homeschooling is a little attenuated in that I did have, I have family members who have been homeschooled, and it works.

Just plain as day, it works. But I do have questions regarding exactly how it works. And honestly, it's different for everyone, but can you expound upon how to incorporate, if you incorporate standardized testing into your curriculum for your kids and in the homeschooling co-op that you have, how important is that? And I ask because of the pathway to colleges and things like that, how does that work for those who have been homeschooled? Also, I am aware of some online resources like k12.com. How do you incorporate that into your curriculum with your kids if you do it at all? Well, K12.com is actually public school,

an online public school. It's not really what we consider homeschooling. So the whole idea of homeschooling is that... Hold on one second. So K12 is actually an online charter school in various states. So that's not considered homeschooling. I've actually, because I actually did that for my nieces. They are publicly traded company as well.

Homeschool is individualized households not tied to a network like they are. That's nationwide. Go ahead. Right. So the idea of standardized testing, it really does not come into play until perhaps when you're getting into the high school level. I have a senior in college right now and a junior, and they were both successful being able to get accepted to multiple schools. And actually the schools were trying to recruit them. And that's the thing that we really want people to understand is that getting into college is not something that homeschoolers have difficulty doing. In fact, colleges seek out homeschoolers because they've stepped away from a traditional learning

and they are independent learners. They think critically. They are problem solvers. They have experience with speaking with their peers and older adults, whereas, and most of them go into college already knowing what path that they want to do. So when we think about having to do standardized testing, we don't teach to a test or anything like that. We teach our children holistically. We try to ignite their passions early so they'll know exactly what kind of school, if that's their career path or whether they want to pursue entrepreneurship or a vocational training or anything like that. But a lot of times, as I said before, the colleges are really looking for homeschoolers because homeschoolers generally outperform their public school

counterparts. So with my, in my personal experience, my daughter and my son had no problem with taking the ACT or the SAT or doing a writing sample. In fact, my daughter was admitted without test scores for the school that she's attending in Birmingham. She's at one of the top liberal arts colleges here in Birmingham. She was admitted without test scores. We did a portfolio of all the things that she had done throughout her high school experience. We did some writing samples, and they were very excited to have her on campus. And I might also add, like like one of the programs that we have in our community is the Neighbor Foundation's Kids Debate Club. And that's from ages second

grade all the way up to high school. And every month we have a debate and it's fun stuff like cookies versus cupcakes, or we just recently did kettle corn versus popcorn. But what we have seen from that program is it allows the students to practice their persuasive writing. It allows the students to also talk with people from the community, because the judges are actually upstanding people from the community, like judges and CEOs of different corporations coming in to judge their debate, and then the students have an opportunity

to try to persuade them. Well, we've taken students that are completely shy to being profound speakers, public speakers, and that's part of the homeschooling curriculum and the way that we teach because we see that there's something that our child is interested in, and we go off of that, and we help them to develop those dreams and goals that they may have in a way that's fitting to their needs. All right, folks. I appreciate it. Jennifer, Yolanda, thank you so very much. Co-founders of the Pat Holmes School of Birmingham.

Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks. Now it's time to go to the phone lines. Remember what I said, those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club, you can call in, share your thoughts, any of the subjects we talked about today. You can certainly weigh in.

Let's go to Tina Banks from Ohio. Hey, Tina. Hi, this is Tina Banks from Ohio. Thank you for having me. I watch your show all the time. I pay the bill like it's a water bill. Thank you. I appreciate it. What's on your mind?

I wanted to tell you that we're going to have a great big voting activity this summer in Hamilton County. They're trying to get Tim Ryan. And we have the congressional district. I'm the congressional district one. And it might be where we can flip that seat from Steve Chabot to Greg Lansman. He's going to be running in that district, hopefully when we get the redistricting back from the Supreme Court.

So I always want to see if you wanted to come and see if we want to try to make a world record. Well, first of all, send us an email. We'll take a look at the dates. I text Tim Brown all the time. I certainly have been watching the Ohio Senate race. I talk to Alicia Reese a lot as well. So certainly shoot me an email and we'll see what happens.

All right, well, I appreciate that. Thank you, I love the show. All right, thank you so very much. I appreciate that. All right, let's go to Alton Williams. Alton Williams, you are on Roland Martin Unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. What's on your mind?

Hey, what's going on, brother? Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. We hear you just fine. Hey, man, I just wanted to say thank you, man, for what you're doing. I'm a big supporter of yours. I've been following your story. I've been following you since I've been in this DMV area.

I'm over here in Virginia, Smithmount Lake. I'm part of your Bring the Front Friend Club every month. Like the lady said, it's a water bill. You know what I'm part of your Bring the Funk Fan Club every month. Like the lady said, like it's a water bill. You know what I'm saying? I just want to thank you for what you're doing. Keep up the good work, man. I'm a supporter. And I'm just behind you 100%, man. I'm just behind our people 100%.

And that's all I really wanted to say, man. Well, man, we appreciate your support. We thank all the folks who give to the Bring the Funk Fan Club. And so, y'all made all of this possible. And so we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. And be sure to call back again, Alton. Thanks a lot.

Let's go. Brian Lang. Brian, how you doing? What's your question? What's your comment? Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, sir.

You're on. Hey, Roland. You know I love the show. You know I've been a supporter ever since you first started. So I'm very happy to have this opportunity just to ask for one request. How difficult would it be to include a fact-checking sheet or a sheet that allows us to review some of the information that you and your wonderful host give? For example, I think his name is Michael Imhoff. Michael Imhoff. I'm sorry. Yeah, he's a Gemini.

Yes, he was just able to discuss about how many people Trump had actually put on. Yeah, federal judges. Not the Supreme Court, but federal judges, right. Well, it would be great if I knew what source he actually quoted that from. Is it possible to get something like that at the end of the show where we can look it up ourselves and for anything that we're interested in finding more information on about it? Because I believe the sources that you give,

I just sometimes would just like to know where Michael and other held guests have provided that information from yeah Well, I mean what happens the first of all I appreciate your call Thanks a bunch Brian. I mean so so what happens a lot of times is that You know when we are signing information I'm again. It's just rolling off the tongue you're spitting it all out versus pointing specifically The only issue with being able to have it at the end of the

show is, I mean, literally that's hiring somebody to do just that. Because if you look at the amount of information that we cover in a two-hour period, it's a whole lot that actually goes out. And so that's the only issue there. That's also why sometimes what we try to do is also, when we pull up information, show you where we got it from and reference that. That's one of the things that we're doing. We'll try to keep that in mind. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Cue sci-fi to the day I die. Anybody want to join that little youth group? Oh, here we go. Come on, let's join that little youth group. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Take then thanks a bunch uh mark peters hey mark what's your comment oh double uh hello can i be heard yeah that's why we that's why you all that's why you called in all right double brother roland martin, long time, supports your show all the time. Appreciate it.

Quick question for you. A couple of years ago, you announced a debate segment on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm wondering, are you going to keep that debate segment on the new format of Roland Martin Unfiltered only on the Black Star Network? Well, okay, so let me explain. So I announced that because there were a lot of people

always talking trash, saying how they want to go up against me. And so I put it out there, and nobody emailed. I put the email out, put it on social. So everybody... So it's sort of like the folk talk trash, and then, again, then when you show up at their house and knock on the door, they're like,

I don't know who was using my computer. That wasn't me. And so they get real quiet. And so... Don't do that. Well, you know, that's what... But I'm saying that's essentially what it is. And so, look, when I did talk radio,

same thing. Folks want to sit here. Man, I'm going to come at you, and it's like, come on. But see, here's the thing that you've got to understand, Mark, that people don't realize. It's sort of like you have these people. Matt knows what I'm talking about. You've got these wannabe lawyers who've got a whole lot to say,

and then when they come up against an actual lawyer and then you just like lightly smack that ass, then all of a sudden they get real quiet. It's always like the dude in the gym who talks trash to the bro who's a former NBA player

and they're like, oh man, you were a scrub. Again, the guy who is the best dude at the gym, he can't even touch the dudes who sat on the end of the bench in the NBA. That was a story I read a few months ago. That was a, it was a white guy. He played, I forgot his name. And I think he averaged like three or four points his career.

And he was like, dudes challenge us all the time. He said, and so I'll play these guys. And it's always 15-2, 15-3. He said, because what they don't understand is there's another gear that kicks in with players. It's a competitive thing. So what happens with me, folk want to debate. This happens when I'm like, I may be at an event or something,

and folk want to debate, and they roll up on you. Yeah. And, you know, you talk to them, talk to them. But then they want to get serious. And then all of a sudden, I'm just letting you know, and Matt, Michael, y'all do this here. All of a sudden, when people cross that line, then that other gear kicks in, and then you start drilling that ass.

Then it's like, yo, yo, man, don't be treating me like you're doing your show. I'm like, no, no, your ass wanted to bait. Now I'm about to show you what it's like. So I tell people, when you roll up on the pro, understand, you a hack. Okay? You might be a good debater with your family, but you bring your ass in here with some grown professionals, you're going to get treated like a grown professional,

and that beatdown is going to be rough, and they can't handle it. So that's why none of them responded. So I am more than willing to debate the folks, but again, these are the amateurs who are out there, and if they want to sit here and come into the professional arena, as I say, hashtag

bring your ass. Well, as you know, alphas are one to disagree. Okay, well, that's fine. So, all right, what's the subject? You clearly want to disagree. Okay, well, that's fine. So, all right, what's the subject? You clearly want to debate. What's on your mind? Oh, me? Do I want to debate? Right.

No, no, not... I mean, I was just asking about the segment. Oh, okay, all right. I was just checking. You know, understanding. Yeah, I was just checking. I'm just waiting for somebody to respond to the email. So if they respond, I'll have them on. I'll let you know. All right. Okay. All right, bro.

I appreciate it, Mark. Thanks a lot. Okay. Peace. All right. All right. All right. That happens all the time, Matt.

Cats want to sit here and like, oh, you want to come? OK, come on. Bring your ass. Come on. Let's go. Matt Frozen. I think Michael, Michael, this happened to you. Well, that happens. But, you know, I provide documentation on my show and my lecture. So that that really reduces that. But the one caller who asked, pewresearch.org, how Trump compares with other recent presidents

in appointing federal judges, January 13th, 2021. All right, then. And so let's see here. Let's go to... Hmm. I'm going to go to... Let's see here.

Who we got here? Sheila Davis? Sheila? Is Sheila there? Sheila, what's on your mind? Okay. Thanks for taking my call. I'm concerned about America. And the Biden administration is not doing it fast enough, okay? I'm concerned about voting rights, of course. And they waited, the Attorney General waited eight months to file the discrimination suit on Texas and Georgia,

from what I understand. And they waited too late. No, no, no, no, no. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Again, first of all, they filed the lawsuit after they passed the voting laws. No, they, they, um, okay. Okay, he waited eight months until he addressed the issue.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, again, let me correct you. They filed a lawsuit against Texas. What kind of lawsuit? No, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Texas voter suppression law after they passed the law. Matt, you're there in Texas, correct? Yes, yes, I know that, okay? But the Attorney General just filed a discrimination lawsuit against Texas.

Did you hear about that? You said, yes, the lawsuit that they filed, they filed a lawsuit against Texas saying that the Texas voter suppression law discriminates against people of color. You said they filed it too late. When did you want them to file it? Okay, okay. I didn't know that they had filed it too late. When did you want them to file it? Okay. I didn't know that they had filed it.

I saw it last month. You may have seen it last month, but they filed the lawsuit after Texas passed the law. They filed the suit against Georgia after Georgia passed the law.

Yeah, and Georgia passed the law. Yeah, and Georgia passed it out March 2021. Last year. Yes, yes. But my other concern, you corrected me on that, okay? Okay. But I told Martin Luther King III they should file a lawsuit against every state, a discrimination lawsuit against 33 states that adopted that law, the vote of depression. Okay? Okay, you can't just – so, Matt, explain to her why – explain to her that you just can't just file a lawsuit just because.

There has to be grounds. Go ahead. There has to be grounds. Oh, yeah, I have. No, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on, Sheila. I want Matt to answer what you just said. Go ahead.

Well, there have to be grounds and there has to be what's called standing. So you have to actually be injured by the law. You have to have an ability to recover something if you file a lawsuit in order to bring a lawsuit. It's basically how it works. Now, organizations can do that if their members are actually injured or if they are, you know, there's certain elements, but that's essentially how it works. So you can't just say I'm angry about something and file a lawsuit because it'll get thrown out because you won't have standing. And that's basically how that works. Also, there has to be an injury first.

So you can file an injunction to try to stop something from happening. But in order for you to file a lawsuit saying you're injured by an actual law, that law has to be passed, which is why the sequence is out how it has been as Roland explained. Okay.

Yeah. All right, Sheila. All right. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Roland. Yes. wait. Roland. Yes? Hello? Okay.

Can Joe Biden increase the Supreme Court nominee? No, he cannot. The only way you can expand this— Hold up, Sheila. Congress has to pass a law in order to expand the Supreme Court. The president cannot sign an executive order to expand the Supreme Court. The president cannot sign an executive order to expand the Supreme Court by himself. Okay, okay.

What about expelling them from the Senate? No, you can't. The president can't expel anybody. Sheila, Sheila. No, not the president. What about Nancy Pelosi? Sheila, Sheila, Sheila, Sheila. Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House.

She does not have any jurisdiction over the United States Senate. Second of all, Nancy Pelosi, as the Speaker of the House, can't expel somebody from the United States House. That has to be voted on by the entire House of Representatives. Okay, that's what my solution was. But that's not a solution because it can't happen. One person cannot, we do not have a dictatorship in America.

One person cannot- No, no, I know there's a constitution and it's in the constitution about expelling, but- No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, Sheila, no, no, no, Sheila. In the Constitution it spells out how somebody can be expelled. It has to be a vote of the House or a vote

of the Senate. That's how it has to happen. Okay? Sheila, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot for calling. Let's go to Wanda. Wanda, you're unfiltered. Wanda? you're on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Wanda?

Hey, good evening, Roland, and thank you so much for taking my call. That last call is a perfect example of why I love Roland Martin Unfiltered, because you give us a civics lesson, and I so appreciate it. I just wanted to congratulate you on the success so far. And I'm really, really looking forward to the other shows. Dr. Carr's show, your wife's show. I'm

really looking forward to that. And I just want to say thank you for taking my call here in Florida. The next time you're in Jacksonville, I want to be on that set and come and hang out with y'all if possible. All right. I look forward to getting down to Jacksonville

to cover the Demings-Rubio race this year. Awesome. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I'm going to take a couple more callers before I let folks go. Let me go to Nicole. Nicole, how you doing?

Nicole? Are you there? I think she's calling from the U.K. All right, y'all let me know what's going on there. Let's see here. Okay, let's see here. Linda. Linda Williams. Um, okay. Uh, let's see here. Uh, Linda. Linda Williams from Sacramento, California.

Hi, Roland. How you doing? Great. I'm here. What's your question? A couple of things. Um, the first one is our president, um, in his press conference a couple days ago, uh, made a statement in saying that, um that he has been treated in his first year worse than what Barack Obama was treated. But yet he forgets that the Affordable Care Act

received, I believe, not one vote from the Senate or House. And that was the biggest legislation in his eight years. So to me, he should have been fact-checked on that. Hold on, hold on, hold on. He said how he's been treated. What is that? So what is your complaint? My complaint

is Obama was treated just as worse, if not worse, but he should have been fact-checked because if y'all seen his expression, you know, he had an expression like, um, no, I'm getting treated worse. Okay, so how... Okay, but how do you...

Okay, but here's the question. How do you fact-check a feeling? I agree. You can't fact-check a feeling. You can't fact-check a feeling. Mm-hmm. So that's just his perspective. I agree. You can't fact check a feeling. So that's just his perspective. So you can't fact check that. That's just what he thinks. I mean, Donald Trump said,

I'm being treated worse than any president in history, except Lincoln, and Lincoln was killed. Oh, please. I don't know what's my breath talking about him. Number two, really quick. Roll it. Go. Yeah, I agree. Go.

No, you said number two. I have a real problem. Yeah, I have a real problem with a lot of our athletes and entertainers who want to come on board a month before every election and ask presidents, congresspeople, what are they doing for Black America, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But where was they at up until two days ago vote? You heard from some, some, but none of them,

the consciousness of them just befuddles me. So I'm just so disappointed in them when it comes to the voting rights. You know, they don't come along, like I said, until then. So I have a problem with that, and I wish that a lot of them would say more a month before an election. Actually, I don't. I want a lot of them to say more before a month before an election. Actually, I don't. I want a lot of them. I want a lot of them to say less.

I tell you, I tell you. No, no, no, no, no. I know I do. Because, Michael, we know there's a whole bunch of folk who are entertainers and athletes who have no idea what the hell they talking about. So I don't want them talking. Michael, go ahead. Well, you can just look at some of the comments about coronavirus and vaccines. And you can tell a lot of them don't know what they're talking about. You know, you have some athletes and entertainers who mean well, and they want to help, but they really need to be educated on policies and politics and things like this and laws. They really need to be educated. You have others who are just grifters and are just

in it for themselves. I'm not looking to entertainers. I'm not looking to athletes and entertainers to educate us on politics. I think that's one of the mistakes that we make. We shouldn't look to athletes and entertainers to educate us

on politics. We need to look at lawyers, activists, politicians, historians, policy planners, urban planners, political scientists, things like this. I'm not looking to athletes and entertainers to educate us on politics. I'll tell you, Matt, to that particular point that Michael just made there, when I'm watching CNN, MSNBC, I always see them booking black entertainers and activists talking. I will never see them talking to white entertainers and activists asking them policy questions on white America. Of course not. Of course not. And to Michael's point, I mean, we shouldn't look to them for that,

but I do think we should leverage those platforms. It's a matter of requiring them to be better educated if they're going to speak out. But I don't think we can undermine the fact that they have much larger platforms than a lot of those activists and lawyers and other people. So it's a matter of marrying good information and solid information with the platform,

and that's how you move the ball forward. Absolutely. Linda, thanks for your phone call. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Real quick. You got 10 seconds. Oops. Sorry about that, Linda.

Linda, you're on with four and a half minutes. You got to get it in. You got to get it in when you get it in. Real quick, Greg Allison. Greg, what's your comment? Thank you, Roland. Yes, sir, Roland. Thank you for having me on.

Your doctor, Peter Hotez, has revised his vaccine. His vaccine he made for, I'm sorry, sir. I'm all caught up here. He put together a SARS vaccine back in the day. And I just was wondering if you knew about it. Yeah. Matter of fact, when he was on the show, he told us Texas Children's Hospital, where he works there in Houston, they actually created a COVID vaccine.

And they actually are sharing the information, sharing the vaccine with people all across the world, unlike Moderna, unlike them. So, yeah, when he was on the show, he told us about that. I must have missed it, Dan. I'm on your YouTube chat as Clutch and Stick. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it, bro. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right. That is it.

It's a Friday. Matt and Michael, thanks for sticking around a little bit longer for us, taking the phone calls. We're a little longer than some of the other segments. But definitely want to get the phone calls in. I appreciate it, gentlemen. Thanks for being on the show. Kelly, thanks a bunch as well.

And so, thank all the calls. I couldn't get to everybody. And so, what we'll do is next week we may just, you know what, do news in the first hour. And then, of course, do phone calls for the last hour of the show. And again, so we're going to be incorporating calls into the show not just once a week but multiple times in the week. Before we go though, folks, we do have a passing of a couple of our African-American elders who have now moved on to become

ancestors. And that is the only woman to ever be drafted. Cue the music, please. Thank you very much. to become ancestors, and that is the only woman to ever be drafted. Cue the music, please. Thank you very much. And folks, Lucia Harris, you might not know that name, but she was a tremendous athlete. She holds several firsts in world basketball.

She was the first woman to be drafted by an NBA team officially, the first woman to score in an Olympic game. In 1992, became the first black woman inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. She was a 1976 Olympic silver medalist and helped Delta State University win three straight national titles in the 1970s. The family released the following statement.

We are deeply saddened to share the news that our angel, matriarch, sister, mother, grandmother, Olympic medalist, the queen of basketball, Lucia Harris, has passed away unexpectedly today in Mississippi. The recent months brought Ms. Harris great joy, including the news of the upcoming wedding of her youngest son and the outpouring of recognition received by a recent documentary that brought worldwide attention to her story.

She passed away at the age of 66. Actress and singer Carol Speed, most known for her roles in a handful of 1970s films, died at the age of 76. She passed away in Muskegee, Oklahoma, in the age of 66. Actress and singer Carol Speed, most known for her roles in a handful of 1970s films, died at the age of 76. She passed away in Muskegee, Oklahoma. Her first job in show business was as backup singer for Bobby Gentry at Harrah's Club in Reno, Nevada.

She had some TV acting success with guest roles on Julia, Sanford and Son and a recurring role on Days of Our Lives before making a name for herself on the big screen. One of her most prominent roles was Lulu, the loyal prostitute girlfriend of Max Julian's pimp character in the 1973 movie, The Max. She played the girlfriend of a club owner in 1974's release of Chuck Bale's Black Samson. She also was the deaf woman in the cult martial arts drama

Dynamite Brothers, featuring Timothy Brown. Folks, Carol Speed, again, passed away at the age of 76. All right, folks, that is it for us. Glad you could join us on Roller Mart Unfiltered. Please don't forget, download the Blackstar Network app, all the various platforms, Apple TV, Android TV, of course, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox, Samsung Smart TV, and of course, be sure to support our Bring the Funk fan club.

If you want to call in, got to be a fan club member. And so, if you don't contribute, can't call in. So Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered, Venmo is RM Unfiltered, Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. All right, folks, that's it. I'll see you guys on Monday. Don't forget, go to the Black Star Network and check out my interview with Glenn Turman.

Fascinating conversation we had. I'll see you on Monday. How? This is an iHeart Podcast.